Making Waves Conversations
Sustainability
Matthew Chang – A Teen Climate Activist’s Perspective on the Cumulative Power of Action
At first glance, an innocuous cold email may not seem like a powerful seed of change. But for Matthew, it has led to a climate movement and years of public service.
Brad Weed – We need renewables and EVs – What about congestion and social isolation?
Renewable EV charging can reduce fossil fuels, but will they relieve traffic congestion? While convenient, cars isolate people from their community, increasing separation, polarization, and despair. How can we improve our interactions with people?
Michael Hanrahan – Navigating the End of the World (as we know it)
We now face political polarization, climate catastrophe, and economic destabilization. How do we move through these difficult times with grace and well-being?
Luke Young, Rory Hornby – Entering a New Age of Agriculture
Agriculture suffers from sea-level rise, increased soil salinity, and unsustainable and environmentally damaging farming. With the next world crisis likely to be a battle over fresh water, a lot needs to change in how we...
Hannah-Beth Jackson – Why would anyone in their right mind want to enter the political arena today?
The critically important role of public policy in maintaining a functioning, working Democracy, needs participation by citizens to be effective. As the current political landscape seems impossibly polarized, Hannah-Beth will make the case to exercise...
Jesse Rosenberg – Charge Your Commute
Whether it’s a morning commute or a weekend ride with friends, bike share can help cities meet their sustainability goals, and with e-bikes, can revolutionize transportation in their communities. People will not leave a major...
Dr. Valerio De Angelis – How batteries are changing our electricity infrastructure
Renewables are changing how we make electricity. Electric cars are changing how we move. Batteries invented to power small devices are enabling these changes. We will explore how batteries, electric vehicles, and the electric grid...
Avril Johnnidis – Net-Positive Regenerative Neighborhoods
The way we design and build our homes, energy and water and waste systems, streets, sidewalks, neighborhoods, landscapes, open spaces, and sources of food impacts just about every level of our lives and the broader...
Sandra Kwak – Climate Justice through renewable energy access
Sandra Kwak, the CEO of 10Power, will explain their work with local partners to develop and finance commercial-scale solar projects in Haiti, making renewable energy affordable and accessible for tangible improvements in livelihood and prosperity.
Maureen McCoy – Resilient college students? Only if they have enough to eat.
We live in a nation with more than enough food, but the numbers of hungry people continue to rise, with some of the greatest jumps in the college student population.
Dan Dalton – Realizing the future of transportation, for all
From the air to underground, countries are in the process of taking advantage of technologies to improve transportation in novel and impressive ways. But how do we ensure that this next transportation revolution maximizes the...
Ari Matusiak – The Climate and Economic Case for Electrifying Everything
We are motivated by the fact that 90 percent of all emissions in the U.S. are energy-related, and 42 percent of those energy emissions come from the decisions we make in our homes: how we...
Kimberly Rose – Rewilding – Loving Nature. Living Nature.
Kimberly’s passion is facilitating the relationship between people and nature, people and animals, and people and people. As a naturalist, humane educator, eco-therapist, nature mentor, and dog trainer, she believes the health of people is...
Sean Hastings – Protecting Blue Whales and Blues Skies
Every year, container ships and auto carriers make thousands of transits in the shipping lanes in the Santa Barbara Channel region and along the California coast. These vessels are a significant source of air pollution...
Gabe Ruzzier-Gaul – Changing The Way We Farm: How Green Spaces Can Feed Us Into The Future
To produce more quality nutrition for our future, we have to think differently. For example, we can create more resilient food systems by planting trees to turn landowners into farmers, reduce food waste, localize food...
Claudia Weintraub – Shape the future by shaping the education system
Charter schools provide more than a “cafeteria” style of education. Indeed, they provide a “farm-to-table” model, where students’ passions and dedication are essential to preparing them for this century and for their future, rather than...
John Davies – Is Any Form of Energy Acceptable?
John Davies will explore the powerful journey humanity has followed on the path of ever-improving energy and how the lessons of the past should lead us to a desire for a fact-based, non-politicized, national conversation...
India Rose Matharu-Daley – The Future of Work: Millennials in Sustainable Business
India Rose Matharu-Daley believes that we can create a fairer, greener, and more prosperous future through business for good. She aspires to help solve the world’s greatest challenges, including climate change, at the nexus of...
Prof Dr Ger Graus OBE – Children can only aspire to what they know exists
“Children can only aspire to what they know exists” is Ger Graus’s mantra and he sees his and KidZania’s approach to education and entertainment as a significant piece in the large jigsaw which portrays a...
Chris Ragland – Climate Equity & Culture: Rethinking What Makes an Environmentalist
Chris will unpack environmental justice and the need for culture change to occur simultaneously with policy changes. Re-building relationships between the natural world and communities of color, centering awareness and resiliency into the minds and...
Allegra Roth – Feeding Our Soils, Feeding Ourselves: Making Land Stewardship a Viable Livelihood
This conversation in our continuing series on Sustainability will delve into nature-based climate solutions as well as carbon farming. Allegra will help us understand the complexities and nuances of both, as they’re very big ideas...
Jennifer Hernández – Climate Justice: Essential Practices to Advance Justice and Equity in the Climate Movement
In our continuing conversation during Earth Month, we will talk with Jen Hernandez about her work with the Central Coast Climate Justice Network, and her focus on an Electric Vehicle Blueprint for Ventura County.
Michael Chiacos – The Path to Carbon Zero – How to Solve the Climate Crisis
Michael will explain to us why climate change is the existential challenge of our time and the solution is straightforward. Generate 100% clean and renewable electricity, electrify transportation, buildings, and other sectors, and drawdown excess...
Dyhia Belhabib, Ph.D. – Understanding the global importance of small-scale fisheries
Dyhia works at the intersection of sustainability and ocean criminality. She created the most comprehensive and largest database of ocean criminality in the world, Spyglass.fish. She’s a TEDx speaker on Diversity and Inclusion in science...
Tannis Thorlakson, Ph.D. – Driving Sustainability through Data: Agriculture’s Opportunity
Everyone is talking about the data revolution, but how can data be used to drive sustainability in agriculture? Hear Tannis Thorlakson, Ph.D. talk about her experiences helping farmers and companies use the power of data...
John Seigel Boettner – Riding on the Shoulders of Giants
We will talk with John Seigel Boettner, the Santa Barbara representative of Cycling Without Age. A worldwide movement providing joy and vitality to older adults through the magic of a bicycle ride. Memories are awakened...
Aria McLauchlan & Harley Cross – The Opportunity Beneath our Feet
In this highly anticipated conversation, we will discuss why our future depends on our soils; and how Land Core’s Aria and Harley work across government, research, and the private sector to leverage our political and...
Shannon Kenny – Humanizing Technology: Feminine Native Traditions and Startup Ideologies
Prontopia is putting the people back in the equation because human services are tragically hard to come by in the digital age. We cannot dismiss the complexities and interdependencies of people, and the earth, as...
Sigrid Wright – The pandemic did not fix our climate problem
Rethinking how we come back online. Sigrid has a challenging role as the CEO of the Community Environmental Council. She’s thinking about emissions issues, protecting our food system, including how our ecosystem will recover after...
